


Shoreline Calls the Sea

by Jaina (effervescible)



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Post-KHIII, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-17 21:41:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29232441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/effervescible/pseuds/Jaina
Summary: After the battle and before everything that comes next, Naminé and Riku take a moment to talk about the past, present and future.
Relationships: Naminé/Riku (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	Shoreline Calls the Sea

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SamBan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamBan/gifts).



> For the sake of timelines, this fic assumes that 1) post-KH2 and pre-DDD, the Destiny trio had a little more downtime back home than, like, a weekend, and 2) that Sora and Kairi's return was known to the group before Sora ended the island party by disappearing, because I have a hard time believing they'd all be chilling out and having fun otherwise.

The Destiny Islands are so much more beautiful in real life than in even the most vivid of Sora's memories Namine had once sifted through, and the way she feels about visiting them as a guest, not some uninvited shadow cast by someone else's light, is so different from anything else she's ever felt. The difference might be that she believes it, Namine thinks to herself the day they all gather there, celebrating the fact that they can be together — she believes now that she has a heart, that she can truly feel anything, that she has a right to be here at all.

It's wonderful, and a little overwhelming. An hour or so after they arrive at the play island, she strolls down shore, away from the area where everyone else is. Not far — she can still hear their laughter from where she is, she just can't see anyone. She'll rejoin them soon, but already it's helping to have some space to herself. This is the first time she's ever been around so many people before, especially people who want to be around her, too.

A long, thin piece of driftwood has washed up. She leans down to pluck it from the wet sand, then uses it to draw in the wet sand a little higher up, where the receding tide won't immediately smooth it away. For once, she has nothing in particular in mind, no memory to recreate. She draws a flower first, then scrapes a long, flat horizon into the sand so she can add the sun rising above it. Using the beach as canvas doesn't allow for much detail or any color, but she decides herself that her sun is rising, not setting. A new day.

"Namine?" She looks up to see Riku coming around the curve of the shore. "Hey," he says, smiling. "I wondered where you went."

"Riku." She smiles back. "I can come back."

"Nah, it's okay." He takes a few steps closer and drops to a seat just above the reach of the waves. "Take a break if you need it. It's kind of a lot, isn't it?"

"Yes," she says, grateful for the immediate sense of understanding he offers. She tosses the stick back into the water and sits beside him, legs curled to the side. "But not in a bad way."

"Just different." He echoes her thoughts. "A long way from the old mansion, huh?"

Namine remembers her days in the mansion, how the thousands of dust motes seemed to stifle any sound in the easily accessible rooms and how a sharp look from DiZ did the same when she ventured to his lab. Sometimes it hadn't felt so different from Castle Oblivion; the difference was that she'd chosen to be there.

"Yes." She folds her hands in her lap. "But we were there to help Sora, so it wasn't so bad."

"You don't have to say that," he says. "I know it was. I was there."

There isn't much she can say in response to that. He had been, and she wonders if he has any idea how glad she'd been that he was. Riku had had his own work to do, keeping tabs on the Organization and fighting the lingering taint of Ansem in his heart, but there had been many times when she'd finished her work on Sora's memories for the day and was faced with the choice between overwhelming loneliness and trying to engage DiZ in conversation. The days Riku was at the mansion had made all the difference, but she'd never thanked him for it. She hadn't felt like she had a right to be grateful.

"Things will be better now," she says at last.

"Yeah. They will be." He sounds so certain. "So, what do you think you want to do next?"

"Me?" No one has asked her that before. "I think...I'd like to travel a little. See some of the worlds that you and Roxas and the others have seen. Meet some of the people."

"I like that idea," he says. "You'll have to let me or Mickey know when you need a gummy ship."

"Oh!" Her hand flies to her mouth. "I didn't think about that part….I wouldn't want to be a bother."

"You wouldn't be. Besides, we all still owe you."

Namine doesn't agree with that, but she can't bring herself to argue the point. "I don't have to ask what you'll be doing."

"Hmm?" He raises an eyebrow. 

"You're a Keyblade Master now," she says. It's strange, that she feels a pang at the thought — not because he passed his test, but because she missed it. Not that it could have been any other way. "That's wonderful."

He laughs, and maybe it's just the late afternoon light, but he seems to go a little pink. "Yeah," he says. "But you know, being away for so long and seeing so many worlds reminded me of the good things about this one. Now that I can, I think I'll spend some time here, too. Laze around on the beach a little, catch some fish."

She chuckles. "You never struck me as a fisherman."

"Oh, I'm not. Doesn't mean I can't catch some for a cookout on the beach. With my bare hands, even."

"What?" It's her turn to laugh. "You're joking."

"I'm not. All the island kids can do it. Let me show you."

It turns out to be both easier and harder than Namine expects. Riku wades out into the water — not too deep, but farther than she thinks she should follow in a white dress — and goes very still, crouching so his his hands are drifting beneath the surface...then makes some kind of _swishing_ movement and yanks them up, a brightly colored fish clutched between them. From the way it's wiggling, it's as surprised as she is.

They're both laughing now, and Riku lets the fish fall back into the water with a plop before wading back to her.

"It's good to see you like this," she says. 

"Like what? Half covered in salt water?" He gives one pant cuff a little shake, but it won't take long to dry.

"Happy," she says. "You never let yourself feel that, before."

She'd been able to sense it throughout the year they worked together. Even on the rare times he rested, when they'd offered each other brief reprieve from their burdens with a walk in the woods or a conversation about nothing very important that was a relief for just that reason, the awareness of a half-broken Sora, asleep in his pod, tugged at both their awareness like a sixth sense. How could either of them be happy when they had so much to make up for?

"I couldn't, then," Riku says, his expression going serious for a moment. "I like to think that we all can, now."

"Mmm. I hope so too." With all her heart. Namine glances down the shore in the direction of their friends. "Should we go back to join them?"

Riku nods and falls into step beside her. Namine already feels better — rejuvenated, even, and ready to spend more time with both the people she'd once longed to be friends with and those with whom she's getting her first chance.

But Riku slows down after a few steps. "Actually, wait," he says.

"Yes?" She looks up at him. "What's wrong?"

He doesn't answer at first, instead glancing down the beach once more before turning back and seeming to summon his courage. She can't imagine why; Riku's the bravest person she's ever known, always. 

"I'm sorry," he says.

Whatever she expected, it wasn't an apology. Namine blinks. "What for?"

"Back when we...forced Roxas to return to Sora's heart, I thought it was the best thing for both of them. At least, it was easier for me to believe that," he says. "Sora never really did, once he knew. Now that Roxas has his own body again, I want to make it up to him. But I want to make it up to you, too."

"There's nothing to make up," she says. "It was what I wanted, because I thought it would be the best for us, too. It really...took me a long time to believe that we could have hearts of our own."

Not when DiZ had said so many times that it was impossible. Laughed at the very notion.

Something tightens in Riku's expression, and she wonders if he's thinking the same thing. And then it relaxes.

"We should have," he says. "Would we have been able to become friends if you didn't?"

Friends. The idea of having them is still so strange and wonderful, but looking back, she understands that she's had more than she knew for a long time.

"Maybe not," she says, and smiles. Because they had been, hadn't they? Sora had been her first friend, but the falseness of their friendship's beginning was enough to tarnish it, no matter that he meant his promise to become real friends even after he knew the truth.

But Riku had been her first true friend, the one she made on her own. They'd been at the mansion to help Sora, but she'd enjoyed his company. She can remember a day soon after they'd moved to Twilight Town, when she'd wandered into the library after struggling to unwind a tangle of memories had left her exhausted and feeling as though the white room was unbearably clean and bright.

Riku had been paging through an ancient-looking book, one of few acceptable ways to pass the time when he was bereft of leads on the Organization but no more eager to spend time with DiZ than she was.  
He saw the look on her face and asked her what was wrong; she'd spilled her frustration and felt a little better afterward. She'd asked him what he was reading, and the constant tension in his shoulders had eased for a little while. Time together became a refuge of sorts. Over time, they'd shifted from sharing their problems to just talking about anything and everything.

He's quiet for a moment. "I really missed you, when you were gone," he finally says. "After we defeated Xemnas and made it home — before Xehanort turned up again — I thought everything would be good again. And it was, for a while. But it wasn't how I thought it would be."

"You had Sora and Kairi, though," she says. "The three of you could be together again."

"I know. That was the best part." He glances down the beach and there's a warmth in his voice that she knows comes from them. "I'd be lost without them. But sometimes, when I was by myself or things were quiet, something felt...missing. Even before we knew Nobodies could have their own hearts, I wished you could have your own life, because I wanted to see you again."

Something twists inside of her chest. It seems like it should hurt, but it doesn't. Not even a little.

"When I was part of Kairi's heart again, I was still me, but after a while, it was like I was sleeping. I know I dreamed — of different worlds, and different people." She ducks her head. This next part should be hard to say, but somehow, it isn't. "Of you, sometimes. I missed you, too."

When she looks up at him, Riku is smiling — softer, somehow, than any smile she's seen on his face before.

"Hey," he says. "When you're ready to visit some worlds, maybe we could go together. Explore for fun, wherever you want." His hand slips into hers.

"I'd like that," she says, smiling back with one that matches his. For a long moment, there's a peaceful silence; just her, him and the sound of waves.

"Want to go back, for real this time?" he asks, finally. 

"Yes, let's," she says. "Together."

They walk back to the gathering together, hands clasped lightly. Maybe they'll let go before they get there, maybe not — she isn't sure she's ready for anyone else to see this, or what 'this' will be.

But that's all right. Right now, she doesn't know what the future will hold. She only knows that people she cares about will be there. As long as that's true, not knowing leaves her feeling freer than she ever has.


End file.
